


“So what's with you and the Maximoff boy?”

by FeralCreed



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Boys Kissing, Civil War Fix-It, Clint Barton-centric, Dogs, Family of Choice, Fluff, Gen, Kind of AU, M/M, Pietro Maximoff Lives, and the whole farmhouse thing, depending on if you ignore that post credits scene that shows Steve at the Raft, hawksilver - Freeform, okay yeah AU, sibling relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-21
Updated: 2017-07-21
Packaged: 2018-12-04 22:10:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,613
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11564340
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FeralCreed/pseuds/FeralCreed
Summary: Because my trashy little Hawksilver heart refuses to accept that Pietro stayed dead. And while I loved the farmhouse scene, in my biased opinion, Clint should have just waited to marry his Sokovian boyfriend.





	“So what's with you and the Maximoff boy?”

**Author's Note:**

  * For [feathertail](https://archiveofourown.org/users/feathertail/gifts).



There's really not much to do in prison. Clint knows this firsthand, from a long and varied experience, but each time it's amazingly boring. And while he wasn't expecting that to be true in an underwater maximum security prison for superheroes, well, variation is the spice of life or whatever people say. The fact that this place is about as spicy as unseasoned ramen doesn't mean anything. Food twice a day and the rest of the time spent doing nothing. He's literally itching to get out of here but it doesn't seem like that's going to happen any time soon.

 

Someone comes into their cell block, which is unusual as it isn't meal time, but what's more unusual is that they go right to Wanda's cell. She gives a little scream and Clint gets up as quickly as he can, moving to the front of his cell but unable to see anyone in front of hers. “Hey, whoever you are, you better leave her alone.” Likely the other person in her cell is even more aware that he is that he can't do anything, but he can try. After all, it's his fault that she's here instead of safe at the Avengers base, even if she had made the choice to come with him.

 

“It's okay,” Wanda says, voice shaking, but the weird thing is she _does_ sound okay. Clint is very familiar with how someone sounds when they're trying to fake it, and there's none of the telltale little signs. He hesitates, unsure, but then Wanda laughs. That's weird, really weird. What's there to laugh about when they're in prison and some stranger is in her cell with her?

 

After a low susurration of voices, Wanda is standing in front of his cell, teary-eyed despite her smile. Clint is confused beyond measure, trying to figure out not only the reason behind those emotions but the reason she's out of her cage, when some blur appears in front of his cell and gets the door open in what feels like half a second. He tilts his head, not entirely willing to just walk out until he knows what's up, and then the blur solidifies at Wanda's side. As Pietro.

 

“You're dead,” he hears himself say.

 

“Was,” the Sokovian corrects him, bouncing slightly on the balls of his feet. “And now that I am alive again, I come for you and Wanda.”

 

Clint doesn't know how all this happened, isn't sure he wants to know. But he recognises the mostly proud but slightly lost look on Pietro's face. That's something he can help handle. Pietro clearly isn't expecting the hug, even flails slightly for half a second, but realises what's up in no time. Wanda joins them and Clint puts an arm around her as well, relieved that she has her sibling back. She isn't the most outgoing person in the world, but he knows how much it hurts to lose an older brother. And Pietro had survived so much only to sacrifice himself for someone that Wanda had had to see almost daily.

 

“What about the others?” Clint asks. “We can't leave them here.”

 

“I don't know them,” Pietro replies, frowning a little. He clearly still has a distrust of strangers, for which Clint can't blame him. Whatever he's been through recently can't have done anything to discourage such an attitude.

 

“But I do. So does Wanda. They're our friends. And they're only here because they defended someone else who was trying to help his friend when everyone else thought he shouldn't.” It was a little more complicated than that, really, but they didn't need to get into politics and all until they weren't standing in the middle of a supermax. “Please.”

 

Pietro huffs a sigh but darts off to the cell next to Clint's, unlocking the other members of the team in short order before returning to Wanda's side. “I stole the keycard not long ago but the guards will figure it out soon. We need to go.”

 

“How did you get here?” Clint asks.

 

“Stark,” Pietro answers. “He found me in some laboratory, took me to an Avengers base. Right now he's distracting the others but we have to go, quickly. There's a helicopter, if we can make it there, we can get out.”

 

“And then what?” Clint asks. He's already ushering Wanda toward the end of their prison block. Scott follows them quickly, Sam a little more suspiciously, but neither of them are exactly staying behind.

 

“He says he must go to wherever it is that Captain Rogers and his friend went. That Barnes was framed and he wants to help them fight a man named Zemo. I don't know if I believe him, but...” The Sokovian is quiet almost uncharacteristically long before admitting, “Whatever happens, my family and I will be together, and that is what matters.”

 

They make it to the helicopter. The cockpit is empty, and Clint takes the pilot's seat, Sam taking copilot. Pietro had told them that the craft was on autopilot, so Clint won't even have to do anything. Scott fits into the space between the seats, just barely, and Wanda uses her powers to mask her and her brother's presence. When she reveals them, Tony yelps almost embarrassingly before recovering himself.

 

Of course, that's Scott's cue to open the cockpit and join them in the more spacious area, and Clint waves a hello from the cockpit. Despite the fight between them, there's many more years of camaraderie than there are days of enmity, and he can't say that he entirely thinks Stark is in the wrong. He's definitely angry at how things played out, but he's an adult, and he made a choice. A choice that's definitely made at least one person very angry since he never came home for dinner... But that's another thing entirely.

 

“Where are you going now?” Clint asks.

 

Tony talks and talks, and asks Sam to help him. Clint just shrugs when the other man looks at him. It's not his choice, and Sam knows that he trusts Tony enough to break out of prison just on his secondhand word. After an internal debate, the pilot accepts that he's being told the truth. They talk about Russia and how little time they have to do anything about it.

 

“I brought the suit with me,” Tony says, tapping the briefcase next to him. He smiles for a moment, the look that Clint had always associated with some scientific breakthrough that the genius found personally exciting. “You guys have a flight plan filed for an Avengers base in New York. From there... you can do whatever you want. Take whatever you need. I'm not going to ask you to be Avengers again, that's your choice. And after what's happened, there might not be an Avengers to join any more.”

 

“I'll write my number on your mirror in Nat's lipstick,” Clint tells him, smiling to himself. There's a brief burst of laughter, quickly silenced like Tony hadn't expected him to say anything funny. “And I've got a safehouse for anyone that wants to settle down for a while. Out in the country, self-sustaining.”

 

“Take care of them, Clint,” Tony says, and then he jumps out of the helicopter and waits for the Iron Man armour to close around him before he's en route to Russia.

 

Wanda and Pietro tell him they want to go to the safehouse. Scott mentions having friends waiting for him, and Sam only says that he wants to stay at the base. He lands the chopper perfectly when they get to the base and shakes hands with Scott and Sam before going to the kitchen. Even though he was joking about the lipstick, he does write his name on the notepad on the fridge. If Tony needs him, or if Steve needs him, he'll answer.

 

The twins don't bring much with them. Wanda has a guitar and a large backpack, Pietro has only a few things that he says Stark gave him. Clint cleans up the trash from him making himself a snack and leads them to the hangar. Tony had a lot of things he liked to play with, and Clint chooses the Quinjet, activating its cloaking device the second he starts the engines.

 

“Flight's gonna be a while,” he calls back. “Might as well get some sleep if you can, it'll be dark by the time we get there.”

 

It feels good to be piloting again. He drums his fingers against the steering column, trying to plan for the future. A lot of it depends on what the twins want to do now. They'll have a home at his place as long as they want it, and he plans to invite Natasha along as well. Probably something he should have given warning about, but oh well. What's the worst that can happen?

 

Like he'd predicted, it's dark when they touch down. Clint leaves the interior lights on as he goes through the post-flight procedures, then goes to wake up the twins. Wanda blinks at him several times before straightening up from where she'd fallen asleep on her brother's shoulder. Pietro seems like he stayed awake, from the slight tension in his body. Probably worried about wherever they're going.

 

“You guys are safe here,” Clint promises. “There might be a little bit of a rude welcome, but to be fair, I didn't give them any warning that I was bringing someone over. But you're invited into my home at any time you want to come here.”

 

“We're at your house?” Wanda asks, straightening up a little.

 

“Yup. Out away from everything else, off all the grids, untraceable. As safe as I could make it. My family's here.”

 

“Since when do you have a family, old man?” Pietro teases.

 

“I haven't told anyone, really,” Clint admits. “Nobody but Natasha, Fury, and Coulson. And I'm hoping that Nat will show up sooner or later. C'mon. We might get threatened, but I'll handle it. Don't do anything.”

 

He's right. They're barely halfway to the house, having landed on the far side of what looked like a barn in the darkness, when a dog starts barking. Pietro draws back but Clint breaks into a smile. It widens when a voice calls out, 'I'm armed', which the twins clearly think is a crazy response.

 

“Guess what?” Clint hollers. There's a pause, then the voice laughs and the front door opens. A yellow dog streaks out, running right for Clint and jumping up to lick at his face and hands. “Hey, Lucky, how you doing, huh?” The dog sniffs at both Wanda and Pietro, tail wagging wildly, before running back towards the house in response to the porch light being flicked on.

 

“Hey, asshole,” the man on the porch says, leaning on the railing. In his hands, he holds a bow, but from his relaxed body language, he trusts Clint implicitly. He watches as the three of them come up onto the porch. “Who's this?”

 

“This is Wanda and Pietro Maximoff,” Clint begins, but is interrupted.

  
  
“Kid that died after you fell in love with him?”

 

“Tactful,” Clint answers dryly. “But yes. And this is the bane of my existence, Charles Barton.”

 

“His husband,” Charles supplies, offering them a lazy grin.

 

“My _older brother_ ,” Clint protests in a scolding tone, punching him in the shoulder. Charles laughs and straightens up to hug him, pressing a noisy kiss to the side of his head.

 

“Name's Barney,” he says after Clint bats him away, holding his hand out to each of the twins in turn. “C'mon in, we'll see if we can get you fed. Lucky, get down.” The dog almost trips Clint up as they go inside, but they make it in without issue. Barney leaves the front door open but the screen door closed, and hangs his bow and the quiver neither twin had noticed in the front hallway.

 

Clint was already in the kitchen, having opened the fridge to check its contents. “I figured the twins could take your room and we could shove you on the couch,” he says, not bothering to look when Barney came in.

 

“Like hell. You wanted extra rooms in case your buddies came over, so we got extra rooms, and the two of 'em can have their pick. Did you invite anyone else over for your little slumber party?”

 

“Sent Nat a message but I don't know where she is or if she'll even get it. Just told her I was going home.”

 

“Getting sentimental in your old age.”

 

“You're older!”

 

“But I don't show it. All right, you two, follow me.” Barney leads the twins upstairs, tells them where the ground floor bedroom is and shows them the one on the second floor. “It's all kinda dusty, but we'll open the windows. Might as well get another one ready for his girlfriend.”

 

“They're dating?” Pietro asks, feeling unexpectedly uncomfortable at this news. He follows Wanda into the room of her choosing.

 

Barney snorts and crosses the room to open the windows. “My brother's never been into chicks. Wouldn't know it, since he married two of 'em, but his heart's always been with other men. I figured that out when we were still teenagers. You two are the mutants, right? Are you in control of your powers or do I have to worry about you burning the house down in the middle of the night?”

 

“Tactful,” Wanda says, echoing Clint's earlier sentiment. “We can control them. I don't know everything that I can do, but Pietro has super speed.”

 

“All right, then,” Barney says with a nod. “Ms Maximoff, you go ahead and get settled in. I'm gonna deal with the room next door for Natasha, whenever she shows up. Come down whenever you want to eat. And Pietro – I'd try bunking with my brother and seeing what happens. Last door on the left.” He opens the window in the second room, checks to make sure the screen is in place, and pulls off a couple dropcloths from over the bed and desk. He shoves them in the closet, from which he grabs a set of covers and leaves them on the bed. Then he goes downstairs to pester Clint.

 

“So what happened?” he asks, opening a glass soda bottle on the countertop.

 

“You're gonna scratch that,” Clint answers. He's quite for a minute as he prepares something he'd found in the freezer, and Barney waits, sitting at the kitchen table. Lucky leans against his leg, eyes closing as Barney scratches behind his ears. “Cap – Steve – needed me. And he said it would be dangerous but I went anyway. And I got caught. We were in this special superhero prison until Stark came to break us out. Sam, one of the guys with us, he knew where Steve was going for whatever final showdown he thought he needed to have. Tony said he just wanted to help them, and I guess Sam trusted him.

 

“He's on his way to Russia now. The rest of the team is split up in half a dozen different places. Even Tony said he doesn't know if there is a team left any more. But I guess we'll see. For now, the twins don't have anywhere else to go, so I figured I'd bring them here. Lucky always loves it when there's new people around. Place gets quiet when it's just the two of us, too.”

 

“And you're lucky I didn't shoot you,” Barney grumbles. Clint laughs and shakes his head, clearly not believing his brother would ever be a threat to him. “So what's with you and the Maximoff boy?”

 

“I don't know,” Clint says, hands stilling. “I have no idea what's happened to him since I thought he... for me. There could've been... but now I don't know. Guess we'll find out. I'd like there to be... well, anything. But maybe he needs space.”

 

“Clint, you're living together. Admittedly with a far more handsome man, and your maybe-boyfriend's sister. But giving him space went out the window since you guys showed up here. Tell him about your feelings and all that touchy-feely shit. Otherwise you're gonna mope around so much that I tell him for you and then you sulk even more because you're mad at me.”

 

“Maybe you just shouldn't rat me out, then,” he suggests.

 

“When do I pass up an opportunity to pester you?”

 

The arrival of the twins save Clint from answering. Lucky bounds up to greet them, and Wanda gives the dog enough attention that Barney swears the animal's in love. She asks about the house, and then Pietro asks about how large the property is. Clint takes up the talking role, since Barney just sits back with his drink, and answers their questions as well as he can. He tells them that it's not wise to go out and wander after dark since there's bears and other wildlife in the area, but that other than that, the place is remote and harmless. A perfect sanctuary from the outside world, or things that they don't want to think about.

 

They talk about lighter topics over dinner, Barney speaking up to share a few stories from their circus childhood. Clint laughs more in one night than he has in the last three months. And even Wanda, who tends to be silent and has every reason to be morose, laughs with him. His gaze meets Pietro's across the table, and the younger man's eyes are shining, his lopsided grin and loose shoulders showing nothing but complete and utter trust in their safety here.

 

Clint shoos the twins upstairs to go to sleep, and sets to washing the dishes. Barney helps him after a few minutes, drying each plate off and putting it back in the cabinet where it belongs. They work in comfortable silence, eventually broken by the sounds of Lucky snoring. Clint snorts under his breath at the sound but he relaxes the tiniest bit more.

 

“Good to have you home, little brother,” Barney says when they're done, reaching over to turn the faucet off. Clint turns into him and hugs him, standing for a few seconds with his face in his brother's shirt and his arms loosely around his ribs.

 

“Yeah,” he agrees, stepping back. “I'll go if Steve or Tony need me, but as far as a permanent job goes, I'm done Avengering. Got more to think about, now, y'know?”

 

Barney nods in understanding. “Go to bed, kid.” He ruffles Clint's hair, smiling to himself at the noise of protest that elicits, and goes upstairs. Lucky remains asleep, and from the quietness in the house, Clint would bet the Maximoffs are asleep as well. Natasha evidently won't show up tonight, although knowing her, she may just be at the kitchen table in the morning with a cup of coffee when he comes down to get something for breakfast.

 

He goes and closes the front door but doesn't bother locking it. Instead he stands in the living room for a long moment, listening to the quite noises of the house and settling into the feeling of being home. A good place to be, and he decides that he should have retired before this. He's too old to be yahooing around with his teammates, much as he'd like to deny it. Lucky he hadn't gotten killed doing it, too.

 

He moves up the stairs and down the hallway quietly. It's a good house when it's all said and done, five bedrooms upstairs, a bathroom on each floor, spacious living room, dining room, and kitchen. While he hadn't been sure about bringing Barney here at first, given their mutual criminal history and the times that his older brother had tried to kill him... It had been the right thing to do. And this place had seemed to heal his brother, strange as it sounded. Barney was peaceful here, same as Clint was.

 

When he gets to his bedroom door he stops in the doorway. Pietro is curled up in his bed, fast asleep, the faint moonlight through the open window making him look like he's carved from marble. As Clint watches, he stirs, murmurs something in his sleep and turns over onto his stomach. His own movement seems to wake him up, because he stretches, then stills.

 

“Hey,” he said softly.

 

“Hi,” Clint answers, and comes into his room.

 

“Your brother suggested I try this.”

 

“Oh?”

 

“Said to try it and see what happened. So what happens?”

 

Clint didn't answer, just kicked off his shoes, socks, and jeans, and left them on the floor. “Now I go to bed. With you.”

 

Pietro doesn't say anything else, but once Clint slides under the covers, he hesitantly moves closer, like he's not sure what kind of reception he'll get. Clint gives in and kisses him. It's chaste and brief, but he finds himself smiling and then leaning in for another one. They kiss several more times, slow and lazy and exploring, until Pietro pulls back.

 

“I think I like what happened.” His voice is breathy, and the archer smiles at his tone. “We should do it again sometime.”

 

Clint laughs and gives him one last kiss before laying down. “I think I like it too.” That night they go to sleep without further actions, but in the morning he wakes to lips on his and smiles. Wanda doesn't comment on them being late to breakfast but Barney gives them an approving nod, making Pietro blush.

 

When Natasha shows up three days later, Clint introduces Pietro as his boyfriend, and her look of exhaustion turns to a smile.

 


End file.
